(Below) About 300 metres further on I encountered this car. It frequently parks here, quite legally, because it is displaying a blue badge. Even though this cycle lane is on a major route it is perfectly legal for the driver to park here for up to three hours, then drive round the block and come back and then park for another three hours, ad infinitum.

Some drivers think they can overtake you when you are passing this car, which is why I always pull out and ‘take the road’. Unfortunately a small minority of drivers regard this as a provocation and blow their horns and scream abuse.

Doubtless the blue badge on this car is legitimate, though in the wider context it is worth bearing in mind that

The real problem on Forest Road is the infrastructure. It would be perfectly feasible to build Dutch-style cycle tracks on this section of very wide road which carries huge volumes of motor vehicles in and out of London. The same applies to Lea Bridge Road.

Meanwhile

Tributes were paid today to a London cyclist who was crushed to death by a lorry as he cycled to work during the rush hour.

Father-of-one Peter McGreal, a web manager and trade union representative at London Metropolitan University, died four days after he was struck.

Charlie Lloyd of the London Cycling Campaign said: "We're concerned that the junction within the last two years has been turned from a narrow one-way street into a wide two-way street that has become a rat run for lorries."